Apparatus for arranging, gauging, and assorting articles according to size



Sept. 7, 1948. w. F. ALLER 2,448,652

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING, GAUGING, AND ASSORTING ARTICLES ACCORDING TO SIZE Filed Nov. 10, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 M62 aw Sept. 7, 1948. w. F. ALLER APPARATUS FOR 'ARRANGING, GAUGING, AND

AS SORTING ARTICLES ACCORDING TO SIZE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 10, 1944 I l I I lllllllllllllullflll; 1

INVENTOR. Kim

' ATTORNEY.

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING, GAUGING, AND

) ASSORTING ARTICLES ACCORDING TO SIZE Filed Nov. 10, 1944 4 Sheets- Sheet 3 Sept. 7, 1948. w. F. ALLER 2,448,652

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING, GAUGING, AND ASSORTING ARTICLES ACCORDING 1'0 SIZE Filed Nov. 10, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 GAGING CAM mosxms wonn ROLLER ENTER-GAGES LENGTH 104 10.41:. 145 10m 100 1090' cAM'oPnAno 84 mcno-swncn Patented Sept. 7, 1948 APPARATUS FOR AltaANGmG, GAUGING, 131; r gsolt'rmo ARTICLES ACCORDING Willis Fay Aller, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to The Shemeld Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application November 10, 1944, Serial No. 562,777

3 Claims. (Cl. zoo-as) 1 This invention relates to gauging devices automatically operable to provide for the proper selection of articles in accordance with their size.

One object of the invention is the provision of Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of the electrical connections; 3 I

Fig. 9 is a timing diagram;

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the gauging members as viewed from the front of the gauging device; and

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the gauging device.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, in which the same reference numerals designate like parts in the several 2 1 views, It designates a housing or support in which the various operating elements are contained. It is provided with an upwardly inclined front wall ll having an opena gauging device for automatically arranging, ing in which a pan-shaped article receiving hopgauging and assorting articles according to size per 'i 2 is secured. Screws it serve to fasten the and including a movable conduit which is autohopper in place. The front of the hopper is matically located by switch controlled stops in open so that a batch of articles to be gauged, one of a plurality of selecting positions accordsuch as rollers or pins ll, can be readily placed ing to the size of the object, such conduit conin the lower portion of the hopper. vThese pins trolling the movement of articles from a gauging for example may be cylindrical anti-friction position to a series of article receivers. so that bearing roller-s or the like. i the articles-will be accurately and rapidly sorted The articles are arranged automatically in the in accordance with their dimensions. hopper and supplied one after the other to a Another object is the provision of a gauging 15 feeding station located about half way up the side device provided with arranging means whereby of the hopper, and they are then moved from a group of articles to be gauged are automatically this feeding st t a c s ng stat o he e arranged in an inclined advancing arcuate line the length and the diameter of the pins areof travel, with feeding means for laterally movgau e his gauging Operation Serves a toing the articles out of that advancing line to a, matically to control n t m i le t gauging station where the articles are gauged, the or arm which predetelmines the P 1 further movement of the articles being controlled ment of t e articles whe they ove on fr m by an automatically operable selector which the g uging station. The articles are thus sorts the articles into different groups in accorde r ated in different roup r in to ance with their sizes. their lengths and diameters.

Other objects and advantages of the inven- The arranging of the articles in the hopper tion will be apparent from the following descripis produced as follows. Near the bottom wall l5 tion, the appended claims and the accompanying 0f h h pper is a r le isc 16 v n a drawing, in which, series of spaced raised stops or lugs I1 at its pe- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a gauging device so riphery. Th s ps are sp p rt a distance embodying the present invention. with the side s t y in e cess o t e len th o t e p ns to be wall removed; gauged. Overlying the disc is a stationary plate Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the- 8 hel a a st r at o by a lo kin finger 0 article arranging hopper and its dri ch which is carried for sliding movements in a lug nism; 2| on the upper portion of plate l8, the end of Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 t finger in r eived in n p ning 22 in the of Figs. 1 and 2; cylindrical wall portion of the hopper. A sleeve Fig. 4 is a plan view looking in the direction 2'3 fi t t plate II! as sh ari n a ement f rrow 4 in .Fig. 1 and showing the gaugin with a rotating shaft 24 which thus provides a members; v 40 support and centering means for the plate l8. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of th a i The plate projects out nearly to the location of members; the stops l1 so that the space between the stops Fig. 6 isa front elevation looking in the direcand et e t periphery o t p t l8 a d tion of the arrow 6 shown in Fig, 5; the cylindrical wall portion of the hopper provide Fig. '7 is a section on the line 1 -1 of Fig, 1; chambers or spaces each of which can receive only one of the pins-or objects to be gauged and these pins are picKed up one by one as the disc is rotated and carried upwardly until they reach the feeding station about half way between the top and bottom of the hopper.

The disc 16 is automatically moved step by step through' a motor driven shaft 28 which is continuously driven at a suitable speed by a motor 25 in the base portion of the gauging device. The

motor is diagrammatically shown in 8. The

shaft 25 is supported by bearings 21 in a housing 28 which is flxedto the bottom wall i of the hopper. Fixed on this shaft is a worm 28 having a single tooth or thread, engaging a worm wheel 38, the single thread on the worm being such that during each revolution of the shaft 28 the worm wheel 30 will be advanced one tooth length and then stop for a part of a revolution until this action is again repeated. The teeth on the worm wheel 30 are such that the disc IE will be advanced through a travel corresponding to the distance betweenthe centers of adjacent stops I! so that the pins picked up by these stops will be advanced, one by one, to the feeding station and pause at that station. The shaft 25 is also provided with a cam 32 which actuates the feeding means, and a cam 33 which actuates the selector arm through which the path of movement of the articles from the gaugingstation iscontrolled.

The article is moved from the feeding station through a hole in the cylindrical wall portion of the hopper by a feed arm 34 pivotally carried at 35 on the hopper wall and fixed to an arm 38 which is'pivotally connected to a link 31. The other end of this link is pivotally connected to a rock arm 38 pivotally supported at 39 and having a roller 40 which engages the cam 32. The movements of the arm 38, being timed with the step by step advance of the disc l6, are such that the feed arm 34 moves an article out of the hopper and is then moved back to its normal position before the hopper disc travels forward again. While the cam 32 controls the timing of the feeding arm, the actual moving force applied to the arm to advance the articles into gauging position is produced by a spring 4i fixed to a portion of the housing i0 and secured to the arm 34 as shown in Fig. 3. The movements of the arm 34 carry the workpiece to a position in which it is straddled by gauging fingers 42 and 43 which gauge the diameter (see Fig. '3), and between gauging fingers 44 and 45 which gauge the length of the article. In its gauging position the article rests on a stationary support 41 (see Fig. 10), and is held there by the slight pressure applied to it through the gauging fingers mentioned. When the next article is advanced from the feeding station to gauging position by the feed arm 34, the piece that had been previously moved to gauging position is pushed off laterally by this following article, and the piece that is pushed off rolls down into an inclined trough 48. The article in its gauging position is inclined at an angle of about 45, and the trough is correspondingly inclined so that the article can immediately slide down the trough which leads down to the upper end of a flexible conduit 50.

The lower portion of the flexible conduit is secured by a clamp block 5| (see Fig. 1), to a selector arm or gate 52 pivotally supported at 53 so that it can oscillate back and forth and arrange the terminal end 54 of the conduit in line with a series of passages or pipes 55, 55, 51, 58, 58, 8G and iii. The upper ends of these passages are provided in a stationary block 62 and the lower portions are formed by flexible conduits or pipes leading from that block to diflerent collection boxes 48 from which the segregated workpiece can be readily removed.

The arm 52' is provided with a roller 63 operated by the cam 33, spring 54 normally holding the arm towards the left as viewed in Fig. 1. When the lobe of the cam 33 engages the roller 53, it swings the arm towards the right, and continued 4 movement of the shaft 28 then permits the arm to swing back under the action of the spring 84 until the arm is stopped by selectively operable stop pins 55 on the endsof the solenoid cores of solenoids Na, 58a, 53a, 58a (which is hidden back of the block 82), 51a and 56a. These stop pins, when the solenoids are deenergized, are projected up by springs 65a (see Fig. '7) into the path of teeth 68 on the lower side of the arm -52 and serve to stop the return movement oi. the arm to arrange the terminal end 54 of the conduit 58 adjacent the selected passage 55 to 5| according to which solenoids are energized. If none of these solenoids is deenergized the arm 52, in its returnmovement, swings back until a terminal stop 61 on the arm engages the end of the segmental plate 88 in which the several stop pins are slidably arranged, and this locates the termlnal end 54 opposite the passage 55. The spacing between adjacent teeth 66 exceeds the distance between adjacent solenoid stops by an amount equal to the spacing of the tubes 55 to iii. A microswitch 68 is located on a wall of the housing Ill. It is operated by a cam 10 fixed on the shaft 28 and controls the closing and opening of a circuit'at the proper time in the sequence of operations, as will be presently described.

The length of the article when in its gauging .position is gauged by the gauging fingers 44 and 45, the latter being provided on a stationary arm 12 at the upper end of a stationary standard 13. This standard carries guides 14 which slidably support a slide 15. This slide can be adjusted along the guides 14 by turning an adjusting screw 16 threaded in a bracket ll on the standard 13 and threaded in the end of the slide 15. A set screw 18 can lock the slide in its adjusted position, the slide position being dependent upon the length of the object to be gauged. The slide I5 carries abar 88 by means of a pair of parallel fiat spring blades 8i. One end of each of these blades is secured to the slide while the other end is secured to the bar to mount the bar for yielding rectilinear movement towards and from the work position. The gauging finger 44 is on the end of this bar. The other end of the bar engages a spring pressed gauging plunger 82 of a gauging device or switch 83' fixed on the slide 15. The gauge 83 may correspond to the construction disclosed in the prior application of W. F. Aller, Serial No. 484,529, filed April 26, 194-13, now Patent No. 2,384,519, dated September 11, 1945, or to the construction of Patent No. 2,254,313, so that the gauging plunger 82 controls a switch operating arm 84 (see Fig. 8).

In its normal position the arm 84 is out of contact with two spring contact blades 85 and 86 permitting these blades to close circuits through stationary contact blades 81 and 88 respectively. The position of these stationary blades can be controlled by adjustment knobs 88 and 90 shown in Fig. 4to preset the gauge for a predetermined permissible tolerance before either one or the other contacts will be broken by the arm 84 as the arm is deflected to one side or the other from a centered position, by operation of the gauging plunger 82. In the position of this switch 83 shown in Fig. 8, a circuit is completed through the solenoid Gia so that the stop pin 65 that it controls will be pulled down out of the path of the teeth on the arm 52. On the contrary, there is no circuit through the solenoid 58a, since the flexible switch blade 86 has been moved away from the stationary blade 88, and the stop pin 55 of that solenoid will therefore be projected shown in Fig. 8 to open the circuit between the blades 85 and 01, this condition corresponding to the position of the parts shown in Fig. 1, where the stop pin 65 of solenoid Sla is projected, stopping the arm 52 so that the terminal 54 of the flexible conduit is in line with the passage GI through which oversize workpieces are conducted to the receptacle for pieces that are too long.

Pieces that are too short will locate the switch controlling arm 84 in the position that is shown in Fig. 8, opening the circuit through solenoid 00a which will stop the return swing of the selector arm so that the conduit 50 is in line with the passage 60 through which the workpieces that are too short inlength are conducted to their proper receptacle. If the arm 84 is substantially centered and both of these solenoids 6Ia and 60a energized, the selector arm in its return will move past both of the passages GI and 60 to bring the'conduit terminal 54 into alignment with one of the remaining passages which select the workpieces in accordance with their diameters.

The diameter of the article, while in its gauging position, is determined by the gauging fingers 42 and 43. The upper finger 42 is on a bar 42a carried by a slide 90 which can be 'adof the bar 93 there are two ledges 95 and 96 com I trolling two gauging plungers 91 and 98 of gauge switches 99 and I00 respectively which are fixed on the slide 90. Both of these gauging plungers 91 and 90 will be similarly operated in accord ance with the diameter of the workpiece. The gauge switch 99 is so set by the adjustment knobs IOI andl02 which locate its stationary contact blades as to reject workpieces that are either of too large or too small diameter while pieces that are within a predetermined tolerance range of acceptable sizes will permit both sets ofcontacts of this gauge switch to close, keeping both of the solenoids 59a and 58a closed so that these solenoids will not interfere with the return swing of the selector arm. The gauging switch I00 has its stationary switch blades so set as to close the circuits through both the solenoids 51a and 58a This permits'the whole'slide 90 to beso po if the workpiece diameter conforms to a range of sizes well within the tolerance limits. workpieces slightly larger than this, but still within the tolerance limits as controlled by the gauge switch 99 will cause the solenoid 51a to be open circuited so that the return movement of the selector arm 52 will arrange the terminal ends of the flexible conduit in line with the tube'5l. Pieces that are slightly smaller than the middle range of satisfactory size, but not too small to reject, will cause the solenoid 56a to be open circuited so that the stop pin of that solenoid will stop the return swing of the selector arm to permit passage of the workpiece through the tube 56. If the length is right and the diameter falls within the middle range of satisfactory diameters well within the tolerance limits, all of the switches will be closed and none of the solenoids energized so that the return swing of the selector arm carries through to completion and is only stopped by the terminal stop 61 which arranges the conduit in line with the passage 55; While the arrangement herein disclosed divides the workpieces into seven different groups, it will be obvious that additional gauging switches could beemployed for further division of either lengths or diameters, and if only one diameter check is required the gauging switch I00 is unnecessary.

The wiring diagram includes an indicator lamp I03 which is energized when the device is operating and setup switches I04, I05, I06, I01, I08 and I00, one foreach of the solenoids which canbe manually operated to change the connections from the gauge switches to indicator circuits including lamps I04a, I05a, I00a, I0'Ia, I00a and I090 for viewing conditions when the device is being originally-set up or adjusted for any particular article size.

The timing of the sequence of operations is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 9. The gauging cam is the cam 32 which moves the article into gauging position and'then returns back to its normal position along the line feed arm returns. After it has returned the work indexing movement takes place to bring the next article into position opposite the gauginglocation and ready to befed into gauging position. After the article is moved into gauging position the microswitch 69 is closed by cam 10, and current is supplied to the several gauging switchesas will be apparent'from Fig. 8, and the switches control the energization of the solenoids as previously mentioned. At about this sametime the selector gate return movement takes place, that is the swinging movement of the selector arm 52 towards the right, this movement being of course permitted even if one or more of the solenoids are deenergized and the springs in back of the solenoid plungers project these plungers. While the workpiece is still in gauging position, the spring 64 pulls the selector gate back towards the left and the extent of its swing will be governed by the several solenoids, whichever one or ones are deenergized. After the selector arm is properly positioned by a projected stop pin 65 of a deenergized solenoid, the stop pin will be held projected by pressure applied to it through the arm 52 because the stop pin has a frustro-conical shape as shown in Fig. 7, so that the selector arm will remain positioned while the next article is being supplied to gauging position'and pushes the 0 article just gauged oil into the trough 48 along which it immediately slides and then travels through the flexible conduit 50 into the selected tube and thus into the proper receptacle.

While the form of apparatus herein described means at the gauging station, a seriesof electric switches operated by said gauging means for gauging different dimensions of the articles, a series of article receivers. a pivoted selectorarm having a conduit for carrying the articles from the gauging station to a selected receiver, cam means for swinging said arm to carry the end of said conduit along the series of article receivers, and a series of solenoid operated stops controlled by said switches for arresting the swinging movements of said arm, and power means for driving said cam means, said arranging means and said feeding means in timed relation.

2. In a gauging device having a gauging station and gauging means at the gauging station or gauging the size of articles supplied thereto, an

inclined rotatable disc having spaced stops along its periphery, a substantially circular stationary wall arranged about said disc, said wall having an openin at one side thereof adjacent an upwardly moving side of said disc, said disc and wall providing a holder for a batch of articles to be gauged and for automatically arranging the articles in an inclined arcuate line of advance, and a movable feeding arm operable to push articles radially of said disc through said opening to a gaugin station.

3. In a gauging device having a gauging station and gauging means at the gauging station for gauging the size of articles supplied thereto, an inclined rotatable disc having spaced stops along its periphery, a substantially circular stationary wall arranged about said disc, said wall having an opening at one side thereof adjacent an upwardly moving side of said disc, said disc and wall providing a holder for a batch' of articles to be gauged and for automatically arranging the articles in an inclined arcuate line of advance, and a movable feeding arm pivoted on said wall adjacent said opening and operable to push articles radially of said disc out of said advancing line, means for intermittently rotating said disc and for operating said arm in timed relation to the motion of said disc.

WILLIS FAY All-ER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 439,932 Curtis Nov, 4, 1890 685,608 Hollerith Oct. 29, 1901 1,156,337 Wood Oct. 12, 1915 1,558,079 Duston Oct. 20, 1925 1,578,458 Miller Mar. 30, 1926 1,694,408 Cogswell Dec. 11, 1928 1,706,632 Onstad Mar. 26, 1929 1,894,025 Dennslon Jan. 10, 1933 2,254,313 Poock et. a1. Sept. 2, 1941 2,368,796 Ardell Feb. 6, 1945 2,392,856 Martinec Jan. 15, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Germany June 2, 1933 

